8mo ago

AOC says she's worth less than $500,000 after kickback claims — and seems to get kudos from Trump fans in response

www.businessinsider.com

Summary

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denied claims that she is secretly wealthy, stating she is worth less than $500,000 and doesn’t trade stocks or take corporate money.

Her financial disclosures show modest savings and student debt.

Some conservatives on X, despite opposing her politics, praised her perceived integrity.

Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.

News @lemmy.world

Sine_Fine_Belli @lemmy.world

8mo ago

AOC says she's worth less than $500,000 after kickback claims — and seems to get kudos from Trump fans in response

www.businessinsider.com /aoc-net-worth-wealth-salary-congress-home-trump-ocasio-cortez-2025-2

184 comments

I think regardless of whether you are Republican or a Democrat, AOC is probably the closest to what a representative should be. Now whether you agree with her or not is a different discussion entirely, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. She's just the only one that actually seems to give a shit about who she represents. Whereas both for Republicans and Democrats the vast majority of our "representation" are crotchety and corrupt old people that don't give a shit anymore.
- She’s just the only one that actually seems to give a shit about who she represents. Whereas both for Republicans and Democrats the vast majority of our “representation”
  While I agree with almost everything you said, there's really no good reason to make a statement like that and leave Bernie in with the "vast majority" group. 🙂
  The man has walked the walk for a very long time. (Yes he's too old to run for office now, but he deserves his due!)
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders#Political_activism
  
  I saw a recent interview Bernie did with AOC and I learned that she got into politics specifically because she was inspired by Bernie during his presidential run in 2016. Thats something I didn't realize and it explains a lot why we feel a lot of the same energy from them.
  
  My bad. Wasn't trying to throw Bernie aside. He's fantastic as well.
  
  I say run him anyways - he can be the token 'old white dude', with AOC as his vice. If he kicks the bucket or finds that he is breaking down, he can pass the baton. Otherwise, we get an extra four years of progress for each term he runs. If dementia is a concern, just write a public contract under what terms he is out of the running.
  Something like "We know I am getting old. AOC has my right of attorney for determining my mental state."
  
  Most Americans want progressive policies, they're just convinced from Cold War propaganda that progressivism/socialism is always the opposite of good.
  Bernie stopped running for president after the DNC told him to. He's proven he doesn't have what it takes to stand for his principles in a presidential run.
  I loved Bernie, even donated to him twice, but he's a coward and only does lip service these days.
I think if we don't start WW3 and nuke the planet she's gonna be the first woman president in the US
- The DNC would murder her if she broke through their primary defenses and got close enough.
  They're fine with losing, the pendulum is part of the grift, what they aren't fine with is losing their half of that bipartisan oligarch gravy train. Our capitalists don't bribe both parties to have those parties stand against economic metastasis at all human cost.
  We can have affirmation ribbons and be sucked dry by the oligarchs, or we can have scapegoating and be sucked dry by the oligarchs, that is the extent of our "freedom." Reagan and Kemp saw to that by getting their former opposition on the take.
  
  Now would be a great time to just put the democratic party out of its misery. Looking around the party, we can be comforted that at least it will go peacefully, in its sleep. Let's at least see if we can get a fresh new party out of all this shit.
  
  Serious talk. When are people going to start calling them DINOs. Democrats In Name Only from the Jurassic period.
  You think Trump took over the RNC because the old guard liked him?? No he built on the backs of the tea party.
  Bernie and the squad were the lefts tea party. What they need now is a charismatic leader to build on it and kick the DINOs out by force.
  The DNC is not that powerful. We outnumber them. Stop forgetting we outnumber them.
  
  Slave mentality is an unhealthy coping mechanism.
- Don't kid yourself. She'll be the next Bernie.
- I hope so, but she’s going to have to get through at least another four years, probably more, of being ratted and feathered by Republicans, and somehow still look clean
  I still contend that was the real problem with Hillary Clinton. Not that she was a poor candidate or hade some questionable decisions but that Repugnants spent years throwing shit at her so she looked like a mess. She was at least as good as a candidate as anyone else and many of the objections were manufactured
  
  I honestly think the problem with Hillary had less to do with her as a person and more with the fact that it felt like she was being forced on folks. I am not as educated on all the shenanigans the DNC pulled to get her to be the nominee over Bernie, but I know that for a lot of folks it felt like the DNC just did what they obviously keep doing and gave the job to the person they deemed “deserved it” for their own internal bs reasons, while ignoring the constituents they claim to represent. Her nomination felt like a precursor to Harris being nominated without a primary. I think that’s also where a lot of disillusionment comes from on the left, the dem party just doesn’t seem to have any desire to even pretend that they care about their constituents
  
  The difference is that AOC is doing what politicians are supposed to do and establishing an identity for herself that would allow her to connect with voters. Clinton, on the other hand, presented herself as a blank slate and then whined when her enemies filled that slate in.
  Clinton had a problem with her public image for years before 2016 and resolutely refused to do anything about it, instead just blaming others at every turn. That attitude shows that she would have been a shitty President. Better than Trump, of course (there are few people who wouldn't be) but still shitty by any objective measure.
- I sure hope so, she's got what it takes.
- Unless the republicans field a multiple rapist convict again. Then it's a tossup and a guaranteed L, if there's a war somewhere the genocide people can get behind.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the internet manifest:
1- blame her for having millions due to kickbacks
2- when she proves that her net worth is less than 500K make fun of her for having too little money
- There's many things that expose the Right Wing Grift.
  When AOC was first elected they mocked her for being a Bartender who "rose above her station"
  What more proof do you need that the American Dream is bullshit
  
  They call at that because you'd have to be asleep to believe it.
  
  When it's a teacher - she reminds me of that mean lady who failed me
  When it's a doctor - they're pushing a vaxxer agenda
  When it's an engineer - he'll be a bad negotiator
  When it's a scientist - we've gotta do what? No thanks.
  When it's a lawyer - ah perfect they make everything better
- I mean if you take the internet as a monolith, you'll find contradictions every where. Some people will hate A because of B, some people will hate A because of C, but either way A is getting hate for both B and C.
  So either there are millions of people online with different opinions but the crowd looks the same, or there is one very, very busy troll who is running all the accounts.
  _{help I'm so tired they won't give me a break to pee}
  
  One busy troll? What makes you think it is just one person? Maybe if it was the 1990's you might have had a single troll per social platform but we are way past that point. A real troll would even be considered high quality with so many bot accounts nowadays.
I hope that AOC has a security detail, a go bag and plan, and an ideal state to reside in. It is my expectation for Yarvin's Cabel to try to capture or assasinate her at some point, since she is one of the few major lightning rods to be the president of a Free America. We will need great people to organize the defense of our people against the fascist agenda.
Bernie, AOC, others, stay safe and strong. 🖖
- I'm not in the know. What is "Yarvin's Cabel"?
  
  That is the name that I have given to the authors of Project 2025. It is basically a playbook on how to take over America and to dismantle democracy. Curtis Yarvin is likely the leader of the bunch in a ideological sense. If Trump and Elon is disposed, it would be problematic if Yarvin and his friends didn't get caught in the net. We have to make a point that America's takeover was a planned group effort.
  Curtis Yarvin, wikipedia
  Project 2025 - Mandate for Leadership, PDF at the Internet Archive
Median property value in DC is $705,000.
She's likely living paycheck to paycheck as a sitting member of Congress. I like it.
- Finally, some actual representation.
  
  Shes so goddamn normal it's jarring
Man, if you don’t agree with her views, fine whatever. But for people to hate her so much to claim she’s corrupt when she’s clearly not is just silly.
We live in a stupid timeline. More politicians should be like her. We’d all be better off, regardless of which party they were from.
- Man, if you don’t agree with her views, fine whatever. But for people to hate her so much to claim she’s corrupt when she’s clearly not is just silly.
  Anyone who use meta and x in 2025 is full of shit. Anyone who side with the red and blue party after all they have done is scum.
That's because she's actually trying to help people, and you don't get rich helping people.
- Well obviously you do. Or she isnt trying to help people. She admitted to having hundreds of thousands of dollars
  
  You have no idea what you're talking about. 500k in assets is like a decent house that you're still making payments on, a couple cars, and some 401k savings. People like that are not the problem. That lifestyle should be the base level for every single American, imo.
  
  Where are you from that you think hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US is "wealth"?
  Do you know that 500k in the US doesn't even get you a nice house? You need literally around 2 mil saved up JUST TO RETIRE BEFORE 70.
  She is helping people in that she serves her constituency, she is a representative, nobody expects her to donate her money to anyone, but she does raise money in fundraisers all the time. She helps more people than most of her peers in congress. These fundraisers do NOT make you money, you may have some very backwards ideas about how money works in politics. Even the right respects AOC to an unusual degree, like they do Bernie Sanders. At least about policy and messaging. They care more about people than party.
  
  With that amount of money she could not stop working now and live comfortably off of her funds for the rest of her life in the US. She is not rich.
  
  Damn man, learn to read an article.
  
  Americans are obligated to save individually for retirement and tax-incentivized to stockpile appreciating assets in personal trusts, in anticipation of becoming too old to work.
  It is not that unusual at all for a 30-something professional earning a six-figure salary to set aside 10-20% of that in savings. I suppose you can argue Congresscritters are overpaid and therefore anyone in a federally elected office is de facto not trying to help people. But then you've got a problem with how we handle retirement, not with how AOC handles her politics.
  
  Too bad she doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of MILLIONS of dollars or she could really help the little guy like Musk and his administration.
  
  Honestly this is comedy gold,
  The politician you are most interested in talking about in this moment, right now with this future quickly unfolding, with respect to scamming the american people... is AOC!!!?
  ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I hope I choke on my popcorn while laughing bitterly so I don't have to live through the stupidest possible future for my country
Wait.... Muskrat is accusing her of being rich?
- It’s pretty absurd that y’all qaeda bitch about all the money that (insert lib politician) makes while throwing money or votes at billionaires who then turn around and accuse lib politicians like AOC or Sanders of being rich.
- Naive of You thinking, there will be an election in2028.
  
  Giving up is asking for it. We shouldn't be giving up.
  
  There will be. It is just a question of how many presidents there are.
- wouldn’t mind if she moved to canada and ran here either. i adore her energy.
I love AOC. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat in primary and general elections. Now, whether she makes it to the general depends on the DNC, and I have no faith that the political consultant/establishment class will let anything remotely progressive through. No money to be made.
I guess the only way forward would be to vote for her in the primaries to such a degree that the Dems have not choice but to confirm her through.
- Dems have no choice but to confirm her through.
  That was the Bernie plan in 2016 & 2020 during the primaries. Clinton had the support of the established Democratic party and with superdelegates Clinton took a commanding lead. Similar situation with Biden, most dropped out before Super Tuesday and endorsed him.
  Now both of these instances could be considered "smart politics". If you've got the political maneuvering to win the primary, then maybe you've got the same maneuvering to win the general.
  It didn't work out for Clinton. It did work out for Biden.
  When we look at our most recent election, it's clear there was a little bit more of a rift, but Harris was chosen and there was no primary.
  Now, some of this is simplified and there is plenty to argue. But suffice to say we can't just vote for AOC "so much" that she'll win. I don't see the Democratic party supporting her.
  Now it's too early to talk about 2028 realistically and a lot can change between now and then, but if she were running today she'd have my vote.
- She needs to win a senate seat first. I think schumer should retire, and she should run for the seat. If she can win, we can see how many red districts went for her.
Can we all please notice how under capitalism, you can refer to people being 'worth' a dollar amount? Money is something you have, it says nothing about who you are. I'm fine with having an amount of wealth, but your worth is not measured in dollars, that's fucked
- I get what you’re saying. But the term is generally used to clarify that the amount quoted reflects the person’s assets and their value, and not just their liquid cash. Which a lot of people in this thread seem to not understand. I agree we should probably use a different term for that, but for now it works as easy short hand for “this is is how much this person owns in assets and liquid cash combined.”
  I might be wrong on this, but I think the term also includes income into the account, like how much someone brings in per year. And it might also subtract debt, though I’m not sure of either of those.
  
  Just in case anyone is curious- It's assets minus liabilities, so income is not directly included, but debt does get subtracted.
  I can agree with both comments here. It can be a useful to talk about, but the name of it is icky, especially if you're tying your worth as a person to it (which definitely happens).
  
  I agree we should probably use a different term for that,
  That's literally all I said. I know what it means
Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.
Lol, says the guy who's currently at the top of corrupting world-politics...
- AKA, every accusation is a confession
There is one group of people who both share the ire of most people and deserve it: The ultra rich.
I've had rednecks tell me they disagreed with Bernie on a lot but they liked how he hated billionaires. Ben Shapiro's gaggle of yes-men gave him grief for criticizing Luigi.
If votes count for anything anymore a smart, effective political party would be able to capitalize on this universal hatred.
Sadly, we have the Democrats.
They're so concerned about profittering they support a guy that was giving millions directly from China, took millions in goverment funds by making secret service stay in his hotels and charging them 1000x the rate of any other guest. This guy's will pay their life down for the biggest kleptocrat in US history, but yeah AOC needs to be monitored.
Comfortable but not extravagantly wealthy from ~~bribes~~ lobbying. I'm okay with this.
- It's probably low in any metro area in 2025, sadly.
I’m betting this is less of a “look at her integrity” and more of a “why would a woman have money” thing
I don't think people realize how big the crossover is between AOC and Trump. A lot of centrists that flipped were Bernie bros. that tired of stuff like identity politics and the DNC backstabbing that shafted Bernie.
She's only 35, give it time
- Literally the youngest a person is allowed to become president.
Bitch is rich, Jesus I didn't realize she's also a plutocrat
- 500k in assets is not rich. Jesus Christ, stop fucking crying all over this thread.
  
  I've noticed them posting all over every thread recently, yet to see a good take.
  
  But that's what conservatives do? Whine about everything without any facts.
  
  Careful, your privilege is showing. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, and you're completely out of touch with reality
Half a million is not rich? Since when?
- If someone made half a million a year I'd say they were rich... half a million in total assets would just mean you own a home and might have something saved for retirement.
  I'm not saying that it's poor, and I know that there's a good chunk of America that's "worth" less than like 10k, and probably a good number of people who are in the negative, but half a million isn't fabulously rich.
  Half a million is within reach for people who didn't start out dirt poor, got an education, and a professional gig. I say this as someone who would be worth less than 10k if I didn't inherit my home. A lot of people's Net Worth Includes things that they can essentially never turn into actual money, but it still acts as a money saving asset.
  
  In todays economy half a million is like one house, and not an expensive one, a car, some savings and puff gone… oh and the taxes… yeah the taxes would take the rest. Half a million is not poor poor but today it’s also not rich it’s like middle class premium maybe if you are really good at managing and saving money.
How is she so fucking corrupt already?! She claims she's not wealthy and then in the next sentence says she "only has hundreds of tbousands of dollars in the bank"
If you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, that makes you rich
- I'm starting to understand how people like Trump keep getting into office. Either you have no reading comprehension, or you're being completely disingenuous. I'm a highschool dropout making low 6 figures that's lucky enough to have a few merger assets and a 401k, and I'm "worth" more than AOC. I'm also 10 years older than her.
  
  We're talking net worth, not income.
  I have a few hundred thousand in the bank, and I'm very aware that most of my friends and family consider me rich.
- Well this is the dumbest, "I don't know how to read" comment so far of the day.
- The job of being in congress pays 174k per year, so having some amount of money after doing that job for multiple years is inevitable.
  AOC is one of the most outspoken leftists in the government. If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt it is her.
  
  Then she should realize that she's rich compared to most US Americans. Obviously the wealth went to her head and now she's out of touch with reality
- That 500k net worth of hers isn't sitting in a bank account waiting to be spent, moron.
  
  Not even 500K, 125K in government 401K, 45K in savings and private 401K
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tFySs0V6A0
Fascinating how we've reached the point where "I'm not corrupt" is somehow praiseworthy. The bar is so low it's practically a tripping hazard.
Sure, let's applaud someone for doing the bare minimum of not being blatantly corrupt. Meanwhile, the real wealth transfer happens through perfectly legal channels while we debate someone's bank balance.
Pro tip: If you're impressed by a politician not being wealthy, you might want to recalibrate your standards for public servants. But hey, at least she's not day-trading classified information, right? slow clap
- AOC is doing the bare minimum?
  Care to enlighten everyone what you've been doing these last few years? Must be something really special and meaningful.
  
  Oh, the classic "what have you done?" deflection. Cute. Here's the thing: I'm not an elected official claiming moral superiority. AOC's job is to lead, not just clear the lowest ethical bar. Maybe demand more from your heroes instead of settling for mediocrity.
Absolutely no respect for the people, using the most obvious bullshit trolls now?
Please projrct all the corruption that exists because you were part of commiting it.

184 comments